He started the season 9-0, had a microscopic earned run average of 1.71 and led the American League in victories.

It was only June 8. The start to the season by Clay Buchholz had the makings of a summer that dreams are made of, without a doubt.

Then, however, his body failed him. The twinge in his neck became deeper pain — far too much to deal with while throwing fastballs, cutters and curves. The disabled list beckoned.

He’s still there, too, though not for long. Thursday’s rehabilitation start against the Rochester Red Wings at Frontier Field went precisely according to plan. Which means he’ll be going back onto the Boston Red Sox active roster very shortly.

Buchholz pitched a solid 32/3 innings against the Wings — allowing four hits and two runs while striking out five — and will be rejoining the Red Sox on Saturday. He is scheduled to start on Tuesday at Tampa Bay, his first major league start since June 8.

“Overall I felt really good about everything,” Buchholz said after the 7-2 victory over the Wings which evened the best-of-five Governors’ Cup first-round series 1-1.

While he reached his pitch limit earlier than he had wanted — he left with two outs in the fourth after throwing his 71st pitch — he was still very close to the old Buchholz.

He struck out James Beresford looking and Chris Parmelee swinging in the first inning. He froze Eric Fryer with a breaking ball for a called strike three to end a first-and-third threat in the second. He then fanned Antoan Richardson and Eduardo Escobar in a 1-2-3 third inning.

“He was really pounding the strike zone,” Fryer said. “He had a nice cutter and he was keeping us off balance.”

Most importantly for Buchholz, he felt fine. There have been critics during his extended stay on the disabled list, folks who questioned his toughness and pain threshold.

“When you want to be out there, when you’re on a run like I put together — that doesn’t happen every year for a lot of guys, or anybody really — and then you have to just stop and not be able to throw, it sort of stinks.

“I’ve been criticized over all this but I know how my body feels. If I go out there and I’m not me, I’m not helping the team at all. I want to be ready. I’m not saying I can’t feel nothing (in his neck when he returns to the mound for the Red Sox), but I definitely can’t be feeling like I felt.”

The second inning was a bit of a chore. Buchholz needed 26 pitches, though he faced only five batters. He issued a one-out walk to Aaron Hicks, Eric Farris lined out to left, then Ray Olmedo’s chopper to third became an infield single as Justin Henry couldn’t make a play.

He escaped trouble by striking out Fryer, however, with a pitch at the knees. He was in the zone often (52 strikes) and satisfied with his velocity (89-93 mph).

“Whenever I try to reach back and throw something, I know it will be there,” he said.

Somewhere else he knows he’ll be: back in the Red Sox rotation next week.